Bret Carmichael

Opinions about technology news, social media platforms, and policy. Interested in the future of tech and its power to shape society.

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Last Notes

2026-01-23 03:23:33 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@randahl/115942123572803982
This is like when Trump uninvited Exxon from investing in Venezuela after its CEO said it was uninvestable. “You didn’t dump me. I dumped you.”
#note1knx…9l9u

2026-01-02 13:36:57 UTC

Social media companies don’t directly prioritize divisive content. Instead, algorithms prioritize engagement to earn ad revenue, and divisive content is what engages the most.
🏭 Politics or not, an algorithmic ad factory’s fuel is divisive content, and polarization is its pollutant. X is a truck without a muffler.
“Social media platforms have long been accused of encouraging divisive content to boost user engagement and therefore advertising revenues.”
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/27/partisan-x-posts-increase-political-polarisation-among-users-social-media-research

2025-12-16 19:35:20 UTC

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They could, but that isn’t the goal. GM’s motivation is not aligned to breaking platform lock-in, but is instead to remove competitive choice so that owners are locked in to GM’s platform. For example, owners can always have navigation for free through CarPlay or Android Auto. By restricting access to those platforms, GM could charge for navigation.

2025-12-15 19:25:41 UTC

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As early as 2018, Roku’s CEO said it’s an ad company, not a hardware company. While a partnership could provide GM with additional scale, it wouldn’t benefit consumers. Also, it wouldn’t solve for people not being able to bring their OS with them. GM’s proprietary platform of choice is irrelevant.

2025-12-15 18:39:20 UTC

GM’s decision to remove CarPlay, and to a much lesser extent Android Auto, can do nothing but cost it sales. The only question is: will the money that GM earns from monetizing its entertainment stack offset those losses? I doubt it.
https://www.theverge.com/transportation/844697/gm-cadillac-chevy-apple-music-native

2025-07-20 13:40:13 UTC

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I understand that. I’m optimistic that the current CDC is not the future of the CDC. Cancer is expensive for health insurers. I expect they will cover a working vaccine to mitigate future treatment costs.

2025-07-20 13:15:48 UTC

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We have the highest number of measles cases in 25 years. People make decisions that are in their disinterest, because they trust the wrong people. It’s a tough information environment right now.

2025-07-20 13:10:09 UTC

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RFK and the like have been going hard at mRNA for a while. When push comes to shove, most will choose a vaccine. Unlike COVID, there’s universal agreement on the lethality of cancer.

2025-07-20 03:26:20 UTC

This seems enormously significant, and I hope it actually is.
https://newatlas.com/cancer/universal-cancer-vaccine/

2025-07-01 10:56:32 UTC

By the same logic, maintaining Medicaid, USAID, national parks, and green investments should also cost nothing. Only tax cuts for the wealthy are free.
https://mastodon.social/@rands/114774158807442135

2025-05-12 15:07:45 UTC

The Trump administration has succeeded in compelling corporations forgo their First Amendment rights and censor themselves out of fear of government retaliation. First was Amazon, now comes Apple.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/your-next-iphone-may-cost-more-apple-doesnt-want-to-blame-tariffs
#politics #USpol #trump

2025-04-21 12:03:22 UTC

JD Vance threatens the EU with the US leaving NATO if it regulates US tech companies. This seems like extortion. For the US to remain in NATO — if the US can be trusted — it must be able to do anything it wants economically and control speech in the EU.
https://www.politico.eu/article/european-commission-ursula-von-der-leyen-warns-x-meta-tiktok-rules-ceo/
#politics

2025-03-18 12:40:55 UTC

The First Amendment is the right to agree with MAGA. If you violate the First Amendment, you’ll be banned from Twitter. Just another reason for governments to eliminate Twitter. Co-president Musk bans speech that’s critical of the US government, even off-platform.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2025/03/18/x-suspends-dropkick-murphys-after-viral-moment-shows-them-calling-out-concert-attendees-elon-musk-true-nazi-maga-hat/

2025-03-03 01:11:40 UTC

As more US consumers avoid Tesla due to Musk’s attachment, there are signs that he’ll pay himself with government contracts subsidized by the taxpayer. Hard to tell if this or the $400M Cybertruck buy will happen yet. If they do, it’s the definition of self-dealing.
https://www.theverge.com/news/622502/faa-orders-staff-find-funding-starlink-verizon-deal

2025-02-23 13:36:48 UTC

“The #AfD is already popular in several eastern states, but is rapidly growing in the west too, attracting support among younger Germans via TikTok.” Global Witness found that #TikTok serves AfD-leaning content 78% of the time. Algorithms manipulate free speech.
https://apple.news/Atiabld3cQzy7qRPtiKaerg

2025-02-12 12:57:31 UTC

I’ve sometimes argued (cynically) that the EU’s chief export is regulation. I think its posture is changing as it increasingly regards its the US as just a trading partner, instead of an ally. This could be the EU’s DeepSeek moment, where relationship constraints produce an independence mindset and economic innovation in the EU.
https://www.politico.eu/article/ai-action-summit-france-paris-macron-vance-modi-artificial-intelligence-technology/
#EU

2025-02-04 19:52:16 UTC

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Mastodon hits the mark for a lot of those desires. The whole “instance" and "server" terminology is too opaque for most people. Minimally, I'd make the language around “groups.” Bluesky may be getting more signups because it hasn't federated yet. There's nothing to explain. Ad-driven social, like Threads, will always have an algorithm by necessity. More engagement means more impressions. I don't see Bluesky avoiding that, especially as user growth slows.

2025-02-04 19:33:02 UTC

Zuckerberg’s political pandering likely hurt Threads’ growth. The ripest target audience for Threads is Twitter users leaving because of Musk and Trump. They won’t go to a platform that panders to the same people. If Zuck were less performative, it might be different
https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/5/23784480/threads-instagram-meta-news-twitter-competitor

2025-02-02 23:14:27 UTC

With congratulations to Bluesky, with more users comes more attention. Bluesky’s investors and Bluesky can expect some political pressure to appease, and to adapt their moderation posture and practices like Meta.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/936/830/722/546/142/original/5371b932b2c51236.jpeg

2025-01-30 00:04:16 UTC

That’s another $25M from Meta to Trump. Time to break out your checkbooks, execs.
https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-will-pay-25-million-to-settle-a-lawsuit-with-donald-trump-over-his-2021-facebook-suspension-234046291.html
#Meta #Trump #politics #USpol

2025-01-29 18:10:42 UTC

Not to take the wind from any news outlet’s sails for reporting the hypocrisy of OpenAI’s saying it was wrong for DeepSeek to train its AI using OpenAI’s work, while being okay for OpenAI to train its AI using everyone else’s work. Have you ever noticed how frequently these same outlets reference original reporting in their stories while never linking to the original reporting so they can keep visitors on their own sites instead? Same habit. Different scale.

2025-01-25 22:55:53 UTC

After twice giving what definitely wasn’t a Nazi salute, then following up with a series of Nazi puns on X, Musk spoke to a far-right German AfD audience with Nazi ties to say, “It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.” Given Musk’s U.S. Government role and White House office, it’s fair to argue that the U.S. is interfering in EU elections on behalf of AfD nationalists.
#Musk #EU
https://c.im/@cdarwin/113890780587547932

2025-01-24 19:05:09 UTC

Threads is getting ads. Zuckerberg previously said, “Our approach will be the same as all our other products: make the product work well first, then see if we can get it on a clear path to 1 billion people, and only then think about monetization at that point.” Since then, he may have realized that his Trump pander-fest made that target impossible. Twitter refugees started accruing to Bluesky instead.
#threads #trump #meta #BlueSky
https://mastodon.social/@verge/113884712256606222
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/884/888/886/532/748/original/51f6b5f47ad8ab11.jpeg

2025-01-24 13:33:38 UTC

98% of Costco shareholders voted against a proposal to end its DEI initiatives, “The fact that 98% of investors voted against the proposal shows that almost all investors are not buying what the anti-ESG and anti-DEI organizations are selling.” Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan did the same. There’s been lots of press about companies jumping to appease the Trump admin. It’s not everyone. Companies like Costco and JPMorgan will have access to more top talent.
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/23/costco-dei-shareholders-reject-anti-diversity-proposal
#trump #DEI

2025-01-23 02:01:20 UTC

The government took down ReproductiveRights.gov, so I got the last snapshot from the Internet Archive and gave it a new home on the web. I still have some content for individual states to add.
https://reproductiverights.health/
#politics #abortion #AbortionRights #trump

2025-01-20 13:34:46 UTC

Among #Twitter / #X alternatives, Bluesky is growing the fastest. At the same time, social media companies are rushing to appease the incoming Trump administration, remaking their identities and policies. There’s risk to #Bluesky that it will feel the same pressure if its user base grows enough. Its investors are leveraged, with some also invested in the incoming administration. As government’s role influencing speech increases, federated nonprofit platforms like #Mastodon will be important.

2025-01-17 02:49:28 UTC

Zuckerberg blames Sheryl Sandberg for inclusivity at Facebook. While other executives are content to pay their bribes and move on, Zuckerberg is enthusiastically performative. He’s tossing employees under the bus, as if he was a reluctant participant in any Facebook activity that was not conservative-aligned. Except he was. Meta has always been run in founder mode.
#Meta #Facebook #zuckerberg
https://www.platformer.news/zuckerberg-blames-sheryl-sandberg-dei/

2025-01-10 12:47:55 UTC

This is understandable and unfortunate. As instances defederate, Threads has less incentive to continue work on federation. This is happening before anyone knows the impact of Meta’s policy changes on the fediverse. That impact may be nominal, since its users have to opt-in to federation. Most are not. Defederation gives users more incentive to leave the Threads, Twitter, and even Mastodon for BlueSky (content). This is not a defense of Meta.
#Meta #fediverse #threads
https://hachyderm.io/@hachyderm/113802419128509218

2025-01-10 00:25:59 UTC

I’ve longed believed that trust and safety are aligned with business interests; that safe, harassment-free experiences are required for growth and retention — a larger addressable market. Twitter exemplifies the consequences of their removal. I think Meta’s moderation changes will be more volatile to Threads than Facebook, which is largely about friends and groups with mods. Threads could turn into Twitter.
#Meta #Facebook

2024-12-20 14:50:48 UTC

In two days, Musk has killed a bill to fund the US Government and inserted himself in German politics to advance its right wing AfD political party, both of which he used Twitter to do. Musk is a US Government official, and he is using Twitter as a propaganda weapon. This is exactly why the US forced a sale of TikTok, and it’s why democracies need to wake up to the institutional threat that is Musk and Twitter.
#Musk #Twitter #X #politics
#USPolitics #uspol #TikTok #EU
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/us/politics/elon-musk-spending-bill-fact-check.html
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/685/708/413/311/931/original/052c28cd7b4fbcf9.jpeg

2024-12-16 12:44:55 UTC

This is a pragmatic action by the #EU, which needs to protect itself against coming economic threats (taxes) and military disagreements (Ukraine and NATO) with the #US. The EU cannot have critical technology infrastructure owned by #Musk, a capricious US government employee who flouts its laws and involves himself in their politics through #Twitter / #X.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/16/24322358/iris2-starlink-rival-europe-date-cost

2024-12-06 01:35:44 UTC

Of course #BlueSky will have ads. It’s not a nonprofit like #Mastodon. It’s funded by VC and crypto who expect a return on their investments. Most users won’t pay for social media. If they were willing, Mastodon wouldn’t have to do a go-fund-me for a trust and safety role. People impugn BlueSky for their incentives while not supporting Mastodon whose incentives align with their one. 🤷‍♂️
https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/05/bluesky-ceo-jay-graber-is-reshaping-social-media-but-advertising-isnt-off-the-table/

2024-11-24 18:04:01 UTC

The US Government’s reliance on SpaceX‘s #Starlink was a national security risk, given its battlefield use and #Musk’s record ofn stepping-in to determine how it can be used. #Musk’s conflict of interest with China via #Tesla takes the risk to a new level. There is no plausible deniability; Musk cannot argue to China that he is without influence in the US Government, and China knows that it has leverage over his wealth.
#politics #USpol
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-looks-to-musk-as-conduit-to-trump-seeking-to-ward-off-harsh-policies-bdbb5a4a

2024-11-22 14:10:05 UTC

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He’s acting in an official-unofficial government capacity. Summoning a country is something a government can do, not a private citizen. His words imply that he's acting on behalf of the government. If I were a foreign government, I would not want one Party of foreign government to own and operate a social media platform in my country, on that has already modified its algorithm to shape the public discourse. That seems like a national security threat to me.

2024-11-22 12:22:54 UTC

The UK expressed intent to summon #Musk over disinformation spread in the UK via #X. In response, Musk, as head of DOGE in the US government intends to counter-summon the UK, so he can instead accuse them of censorship. Three things are true. Musk has a business operating and earning money in UK that is subject to its laws. Second, Musk believes he bought the US Government. Third, Musk is using his money and quasi-government role to regulate speech abroad like China does.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/526/582/179/051/288/original/db3e3ef6474463f7.jpeg

2024-11-08 00:49:36 UTC

I love this move by @npub13fk…z5hw. Given Musk’s role in Twitter, his close relationship with the incoming Trump administration, and his obvious incentives, it’s smart and necessary to provide access to news outside of Twitter/X. Threads doesn’t want it, due to political headaches, and federation makes it a harder target for government interference.
https://mastodon.social/@Sarahp/113443934887710733

2024-09-26 00:15:53 UTC

#Musk's popularity drops to 6% with Democrats. That was his primary US audience. How many Republicans are buying EVs?
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-popularity-poll-democrat-republican-election-endorsement-rcna172353

2024-09-25 23:04:49 UTC

WordPress has confirmed that it terminated WP Engine's access to the plugin repo. Any legal consequences aside, this presents a lot like a malware attack. Instead of installing malware directly, WordPress is blocking WP Engine sites from receiving security updates that might prevent it, including critical severity ones.
https://wordpress.org/news/2024/09/wp-engine-banned/
#WordPress #WPEngine #infosec https://mastodon.social/@bretcarmichael/113200552326161842

2024-09-19 11:47:03 UTC

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In the near-term, the EU’s regulatory flex is a roadmap for a feature starved version of iOS in the EU. If Apple has to fork iOS anyway, the safe bet is to withhold features from EU users; reducing regulatory risk, containing security exposure, and limiting development investment in the iOS fork.
#EU #iOS #Apple

2024-09-19 11:43:39 UTC

The EU wants Apple make iOS available to everyone who wants access to it, and to sacrifice the tight vertical integration that makes it valuable to consumers. It regards iOS as a public utility, and is trying to nationalize it without acknowledging it’s doing so. There might be a point when operating in the EU is financially untenable for Apple; if it has to destroy the user experience and increase security exposure for the reward of less money.
#EU #iOS #Apple
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-19/apple-faces-eu-warning-to-open-up-iphone-operating-system

2024-09-01 12:47:31 UTC

Brazil might be an icebreaker. If it bans #X with little social and economic blowback, other nations might be more emboldened to do the same. As #Twitter’s audience share and MAU contracts, so too does #Musk’s leverage over governments that have less to lose.
Said Musk, “𝕏 is the most used news source in Brazil. It is what the people want.” If he really believes that, he should also criticize China for not allowing Twitter. He won’t, because of leverage over Tesla.
https://www.axios.com/2024/08/31/elon-musk-x-brazil-block-twitter

2024-08-29 17:19:18 UTC

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I think that will change; that Thread will make good on its commitment to federation. Threads users will be able to follow Mastodon accounts. However, similar to how Mastodon works, the local timeline contains only posts from that instance. On Threads, the home feed is the local timeline, plus followed accounts. There are already >200M users, and notable figures have incentive to go there for audience. They're not incentivized to search off of Threads.

2024-08-29 15:16:21 UTC

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It’s more lucrative for content creators and outlets to be on Threads for more access to more followers through its algorithmic timeline.
This explains why some #Mastodon users have left for Threads to have their accounts followed by Mastodon users.
For users seeking a large follower audience, Threads algorithmic timeline represents more opportunity while also benefiting form access to Mastodon users with little cost to Threads. 2/🔚
#Meta #Threads

2024-08-29 15:12:38 UTC

#Meta is willing to and unworried about federating #Threads both because it creates good will, and it’s good for business. This is not a “Meta is evil” argument.
Threads’ advantage is; its algorithmic timeline only includes user content from other Threads users. As a result, Threads users largely only follow other Threads users, because Threads content is all they see (with exception to quotes posts). 1/🧵

2024-08-23 17:40:53 UTC

For those who work at #Musk company, and especially at #Twitter / #X, the trust that Musk will ever deliver on a promise or commitment is misplaced. There’s always a catch. In this case, Twitter employees need to write a document explaining why they deserve their stock grants, and Musk is the sole decider of whether they receive them. It’s a pretty cruel “just kidding” for those who went “extremely hardcore” for Musk.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/23/24226830/elon-musk-email-x-twitter-stock-grants

2024-08-19 23:43:01 UTC

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Another way to frame the question might be; should Presidents be allowed to sell cabinet positions?

2024-07-02 18:52:20 UTC

This is a smart move by @npub163h…mv0n. #Twitter / #X journalism is struggling, and #Threads doesn’t want journalism. Mastodon is leaning into it though, “To reinforce and encourage Mastodon as the go-to place for journalism, we’re launching a new feature today.” I think this is a lever for differentiation; making Mastodon more valuable to journalists and users.
https://mastodon.social/@Mastodon/112718231305707672

2024-05-29 11:33:59 UTC

#Google is replacing search results with itself. #Twitter / #X is losing users and changing its yser base. #Meta and #Threads is saying “no” to news. News organizations still have a need for organic discovery by readers. Expanding reach to federated networks that support them will be important, even if the audience size isn’t as big as it once was. For those who follow news, this is arguably a reasonable to choose #Mastodon over Threads.
https://mastodon.social/@quillmatiq/112519693307726919